Google is one of the first companies to start testing autonomous vehicles technology. Unlike Tesla, which does it with the help of commercial vehicles, Google’s self-driving car fleet isn’t available to regular customers. But the cars do roam public roads, and they are involved in accidents from time to time. The worst such event happened a few days ago, and humans are apparently responsible for it.
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These aren’t the Google engineers manning the self-driving Lexus that sustained significant damage in a collision with a van – see the image above, with the van being towed away in the background. It’s the guys in the other car that are apparently to blame.
Google doesn’t always release timely explanations of the accidents involving its car, but the company was quick to issue a statement right after the crash.
“A Google vehicle was traveling northbound on Phyllis Ave. in Mountain View when a car heading westbound on El Camino Real ran a red light and collided with the right side of our vehicle,” Google said in a statement, according to 9to5Google. “Our light was green for at least six seconds before our car entered the intersection. Thousands of crashes happen everyday on US roads, and red-light running is the leading cause of urban crashes in the U.S. Human error plays a role in 94% of these crashes, which is why we’re developing fully self-driving technology to make our roads safer.”
The story appears to be corroborated by a witness.
“I only saw the tail-end of the crash, and the dazed Google employees sitting around afterwards waiting for their tow-truck. I had to be on my way,” a witness told the site. The witness also mentioned that, based on their perspective, the self-driving car was not at fault. “From what I could see, it was the van’s fault entirely,” they said.
